The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Aster plant, botanically known as Aster hybrida, commercially grown as a cut flower and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘ESM A002’.
The new Aster plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador. The objective of the breeding program is to create new cut flower Aster plants with dense and compact inflorescences, good productivity and excellent postproduction longevity.
The new Aster plant originated from an open-pollination in February, 2004 in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador of a proprietary selection of Aster hybrida identified as Line 51, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Aster hybrida as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Aster plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated open-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador in February, 2005.
Asexual reproduction of the new Aster plant by terminal cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador since April, 2005, has shown that the unique features of this new Aster plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.